Keeping the Lights On for Ike by Rebecca Daniels


Publisher:  Sunbury Press, February 2019
Category: Memoir, History, Military, WWII, and Biography
Tour Dates June and July, 2020
ISBN:  978-1620061145
Available in Print and ebook, 284 pages

Description Keeping the Lights On for Ike by Rebecca Daniels

Daily Life of a Utilities Engineer at AFHQ in Europe During WWII; or, What to Say in Letters Home When You’re Not Allowed to Write about the War

Most people don’t realize that during the war in Europe in the 1940s, it took an average of six support soldiers to make the work of four combat soldiers possible. Most of what’s available in the literature tends toward combat narratives, and yet the support soldiers had complex and unique experiences as well. This book is based on personal correspondence, and it is primarily a memoir that creates a picture of the day-to-day realities of an individual soldier told in his own words [as much as he could tell under the wartime rules of censorship, that is] as well as giving insight into what it was actually like to be an American soldier during WWII.

It explores the experiences of a non-combat Army utilities engineer working in a combat zone during the war in Europe and takes the protagonist from basic training through various overseas assignments—in this case to England, North Africa, and Italy as a support soldier under Eisenhower and his successors at Allied Force Headquarters. It also includes some reflections about his life after returning to Oregon when the war was over.

The soldier involved is Captain Harold Alec Daniels [OSU, Class of 1939, ROTC] and most of the letters were written to his wife, Mary Daniels [attended U of O in the late 1930s]. They are the author’s parents, and she inherited the letter collection, photos, and all other primary source materials after her mother’s death in 2006.

My Thoughts Keeping the Lights On for Ike by Rebecca Daniels

“I married a hero,” one of Mary Daniels letters begins, and another states: “According to Life [Magazine], the engineers are the ELITE of the army. I’d rather he’d be in the finance corps.”

Such letters being sent to a young wife’s family members in 1941 were probably not all that uncommon. After all, World War II was raging, Japan had just recently bombed Pearl Harbor and countless men had been drafted to fight on the front lines. Many a wife was left at home, missing her husband and praying for his safety. But the situation with Mary’s husband was just a little bit different.
You see, Alec Daniels was not fighting in the trenches but he was battling against the Nazis in a slightly different capacity.

Alec was a support officer, a soldier who was in charge of maintaining the infrastructure, administration and logistical aspects of the war effort. As an electrical engineer, Alec’s job was, as the title suggests literally “keeping the lights on.” As the memoir says, these support troops were an enormous part of the war that is often overlooked and not talked about.

Because of the delicate nature of Alec’s work, he could only relay so much in his letters home, so he focused more on his thoughts and feelings about his work than any specific details. Many of the letters between Mary and Alec are used in the memoir and they add such a lovely element of realness that really makes the book sing.
Reading their thoughts from that time in their own words, along with the beautiful black and white pictures used throughout the memoir made this book a home run for me. A timeless story about love and war, ‘Keeping the Lights on for Ike’ is one to be read and read again. 5 stars!

I received the ebook for my honest opinion.

About Rebecca Daniels

Rebecca Daniels has been a university professor for many years who has also simultaneously had a vital creative career in the theatre. Throughout her career, her work has always been a mix of performance, teaching, and her own writing.

Her groundbreaking book on women directors and the effects of gender on their work is currently still in print [Women Stage Directors Speak: Exploring the Effects of Gender on Their Work, McFarland, 1996], and she has been published in several theatre-related professional journals over the years as well. After her retirement in the summer of 2015, she was finally able to focus all her energies on this book.

Website:  https://rebecca-daniels.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rebecca.daniels.9

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Giveaway Keeping the Lights On for Ike by Rebecca Daniels

This giveaway is for 1 print copy open to Canada and the U.S. only. There are also 2 pdf copies open worldwide. There will be 3 winners. This giveaway ends August 1, 2020,midnight pacific time. Entries are accepted via Rafflecopter only.

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